<p>Hi all, <br>
I recently purchased a Balcar P4 power pack with 4 PSU light heads. This is not the P4 concept. Just the P4. I was testing it with one light head attached and after 20-30 minutes of work the light head made a pop and smoke started to come out of it. I have done some searching online and it looks like I need to reform the capacitor? Here's a link to a post I found on photo.net as well as the relevant section pasted below: <br>
http://www.photo.net/photography-lighting-equipment-techniques-forum/00ZPJ2</p>
<p>Directions from Leigh in that post:<br>
<em>To reform the caps: Turn the pack on for one minute, then turn it off. The next day repeat for two minutes, four minutes the next day, eight minutes the next, etc. In a week you'll be up to leaving it on for an hour. At that point the caps will be reformed if they can be.</em><br>
<em> </em><br>
<em>If you reach this point successfully, plug the heads in the next day, turn the pack on, and run a series of <a id="itxthook2" href="/photography-lighting-equipment-techniques-forum/00ZPJ2" rel="nofollow">test<img id="itxthook2icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" alt="" /></a> shots, one per minute for ten minutes, monitoring the output with a flash meter. Note the readings. You should see very uniform output for the entire sequence. If not, there's a problem.</em><br>
<em> </em><br>
<strong>BUT...the Balcars are different than other power packs in that the capacitors are in the PSU heads.</strong> So I'm assuming that I would have the 3 remaining heads all plugged into the pack? Then go through the exact same procedure? I haven't found anything specific to the Balcar P4 so was hoping someone had some experience with this particular set-up. </p>
<p>The previous owner took really good care of his equipment so these look great and I would love to get them working again. Any advice is appreciated.<br>
Thanks for all your help!<br>
Dave</p>